I love WeChat.
add me ,my WeChat name is sophia .
emm...what is 'MoMo'?

That's a pretty awesome user name... far better than moondogsh.

MoMo is similar to wx, but is far more focused on "hooking up", though I must admit that it seems to be socially acceptable down here (in Shanghai, it is known as the "divorce app").

I'd say it's more the divorcee app :D

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/wo...er25.html?_r=0
^

Care to summarize the article? I've given up on VPNs for the time being.

I can confirm it's not loading in China :D

What is wrong with them?

They don't work very well. Well, let's put it this way, many tend to be great until they become popular enough to attract the attention of the net nannies. Once that happens, they are doomed.

Have to say, I'm new to wechat. Loaded it before coming to UK on a work trip, and also on my wife's phone. Although we Skype everyday, I love that my daughter leaves me a wechat message telling me what she's up to! It somehow is 'more special'...

however, other than a way to send free texts (which are really cheap anyway), I don't really see it as a day to day tool.

tb

I use whatsapp and it is a lifeline for me as an expat.... messages with ex-China friends, groups of friends, very convenient for coordinating meet-ups, sharing news and just keeping up with friends & family. I use it to communicate with my ex-China colleagues too, esp with EU/US off hours, in place of back/forth emails.

I have wechat but the BB interface stinks so I stay logged in on the ipad instead. The 'Moments' function is nice to see what colleagues are up to in a non-work setting, also group chat.

Few outside China realize it, but Tencent is in the process of making an end zone run with Wechat on a global scale. It has quietly become the 5th most popular app in the world, and has just recently entered the meta-app game with its latest release. All of the ad houses here are now scrambling to get their clients well positioned on Wechat... and have all but forgotten about Sina Weibo.

^^^
And NSA-proof - for the time being...LOL

Ok, I downloaded WeChat here in the U.S. figuring I might want to use it to communicate while in China later this month. A few of my friends there use it so I figured I would see what the fuss is about. However, it's requiring my phone number to sign up. Will this work for me in China if I provide a U.S. phone number? Why does it even need my phone number? I was only planning on using the app while on wifi.

Any advice is appreciated. I've never used an app like Whatsapp or Viber while traveling internationally so I'm not sure if I really understand all these apps. But I don't plan on using my iphone other than on wifi to avoid international data rates.

Whatsapp also requires your phone number, as much as I'm aware ;)

WeChat will send you a confirmation code to your phone (doesn't cost anything)

Yes, it will work in China, as long as you've data connection (be it roaming, a local sim card (yes, the phone number doesn't matter latter, you just register/get the code with your current phone number now) or Wifi.

wechat and whatsapp both use phone numbers as account ID and the purpose is it allows connections via your phone address book. That way you could communicate with you contacts right away via wechat/whatsapp instead of via text messaging, no need to ask if someone has an acct and what their ID might me.

Not exactly.....

Whatsapp requires phone number to sign up. If and when you swap to another number, which occurs often when I travel, they give you option [not sure if option or requirement, can't remember???] to switch to new number. If that occurs, then folks that ping your original number have to wait for you to swap back to original sim card AND update back to original number.

Wechat requires phone number to sign up but also gives you option to choose a unique ID. Once you're logged on, you can remain signed-in with just the unique ID. It also gives you option to assign/associate an email address. You can give the ID out and if you swap sim cards, folks can still get you with the correct ID. I have weChat set up on two different iPhones, each with unique mobile numbers but both using the same weChat ID.

Whatsapp does search your address book but weChat does not.

At least that's how it works for me. Also, with whatsapp, the other side always knows the mobile number they're pinging. Whereas with weChat, your mobile number can be hidden.

Touringguy: you can also consider another app -- line.

WeChat definitely does search the address book on mine. Although it might be disabled through settings so check that if you want to play with it.

On Android WeChat even integrates with the phone address book which is very neat.

Indeed. I prefer WeChat's synchronisation over several devices way more than Whatsapp. There are some things which I still prefer on Whatsapp over WeChat (i hate it that you can't prepare messages while offline, that will be sent automatically later, something Whatsapp can do for years..), but I've noticed that I've started to use WeChat more frequently recently..

There's no reason to switch to your new number when you travel. I keep my whatsapp logged in on my home mobile number even though I use my smartphone exclusively on my Beijing mobile number. As long as your 'home' mobile account is still yours, it doesn't need to tie in with the active data account you might be on.

Thanks for heads ups, was not aware of that. Not sure why it asked me to switch, will take a look next trip out.

I'm using iPhone so maybe I either inadvertently disabled or not enabled it?

Why are you still using whatsapp now that wx has clearly left those guys in the dust? I've been telling all of my friends in the US to either make the switch or catch me on skype. I simply don't have the bandwidth to stay on top of 5+ chat platforms, so I try to stick with the strongest horses.

we just got a true developer account
 

Tencent is making it really hard to get full blown developer accounts that permit companies to make slick wx sites, but we persevered, and finally have one.

Note, this is different than getting an account here:

http://developers.wechat.com/

I must admit that I don't understand the features that different types of accounts possess, but if you want to have a wx presence on par with McDonalds (not very hard actually because there is only so much you can do with the current tool set), you need a Cadillac account.

Currently, they only offer these to companies with Chinese business licenses, but once you have one, you can build apps/sites for foreign companies.

Like I said a few posts up, I am very excited about the marketing implications of these services. In addition to cranking out a few apps, we are going to experiment with auto look around scripts, multiple locations, and using individual accounts to broadcast official accounts.

While I don't want our company to transform into a wx job shop, this is something that every consumer facing business in China needs, and a model that is also replicable worldwide. Furthermore, our programmers simply love this stuff. Tencent probably could do this in-house, but they are focused on building the ecosystem.

I personally still prefer Whatsapp, and 99% of my social circle is there. Wechat is only with my local chinese team/colleagues. I use them for different purposes. Actually I use Wechat very little in comparison to Whatsapp. I go with where my network hangs out.

Here is an example of a fully functional (i.e. menus with a purpose) English official account:

Pepper_Club

Quite likely. Check your iPhone privacy settings to see if WeChat is allowed to access contacts.

+1 I'm not hip - I'm a follower

Here is another business related post, but I promise to match you guys one for one with look around stories to make up for it.

Whenever you're hanging out in the Wing or the Cabin, odds are that there at least 5 people around who could help your company grow. In the past, you tried to size them up based on their appearance, but you still ended up wasting tons of time with gents who sell iPhone cases in Kansas.

But, with look around (or whatever they call it in v5), it's now possible to focus your lounge BD efforts on people that actually matter to you (trust me, all of them are looking around... though maybe not for us).

LI is foolish for not jumping on this train, and FB feels like it doesn't need to (because its focus is social).

Who is going to be the first to dip their toes into these waters?

Raises hands :D

Well, I won't be in Shanghai visiting again till next year... :p

Don't need to be in China.
Plenty of subscribers here in LA.



Five ways to engage Chinese immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley


3. Chat it up
Most smartphone users in China are sending instant messages to their friends and family on WeChat. The mobile chat application is also very popular with Chinese immigrants in the San Gabriel Valley. WeChat’s most distinguishing feature is its ability to search for nearby users. You can run a search anywhere in San Gabriel Valley and find hundreds of WeChat users in the area. WeChat also offers a “channel” feature to broadcast to thousands of young immigrants in the community at once.

http://www.alhambrasource.org/storie...gabriel-valley

Yes. "Look around", recently rebranded as "friends nearby, is wx's secret sauce.

Thanks to my special account, I know more about wx than 99.9% of the global population.

Not a single one of those guys who write articles on techcrunch are in my league. (They tend to block my comments, which are entirely fact based because they have some crazy belief that Line or Whatsapp have the ability to take down Tencent.)

We built an app yesterday for a restaurant just for fun:

-exposure to 300 million users, though only 4 million in the local market
-video chats
-links with 4square, google, and 30 Chinese channels
-automatic "look around"
-customers can place orders (and pay for them) without bothering a single human
-VIP card

Do you guys get it yet?

Very interesting. Would you care to elaborate further esp. the look around feature. I'm a light user, using both Whatsapps and Wechat, thought they're pretty similar except that Wechat is a bit FB-ish, but then what do I know.

Its not like i dont get it. But i do not want it. In fact the look around function is precisely the wx function I don't care for and don't want. Those features are great, by not relevant to the communication function. It is how I use FB too, I don't connect to any games or promotional giveaways or similar commercial services.

I can't say that I really "want" it either. The thing is, these guys have spent a ton of money, which permits other people to make money.

Customer acquisition costs (estimates):

-Baidu, $8
-Focus Media, $7
-WX, less than one dolllar, even when factoring in development expenses

Let's compare wx with Focus Media. With the latter, you have the ability to reach thousands of people who are "local" by blasting your message in elevators, taxis, and subways. But, every one of those monitors cost big money. Furthermore, they are not interactive, and you also need to pay "rent" to the office building, shopping mall, or apartment complex in order play ball.

Meanwhile, anyone with a y1000 Android can accomplish the same via wx. And, the advertising doesn't have to be obnoxious.

Look Around, now called "people nearby" is a function you enable that allows you to see anyone using we chat nearby you at that moment who has also enabled the "people nearby" function. You can then send a short message to them which can result in a conversation if they accept your message. It is basically a tool to pick up women or men as you can filter it by sex. Although moondog seems to know people who use "people nearby" for business reasons (i.e. in the HKIA lounge), the only people I know who use it are using it to find romantic liasions. Odds of success are around 99%if you're reasonably attractive or rich or charming.

People Nearby is just a small part of we chat, however. The functionality of we chat is much better than what's app and everyone of my friends in China who was a what's app user a year ago has switched completely to we chat. If Tencent can gain traction with this thing in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America as well as in the States amongst the Chinese population I think we could be looking at the first Chinese App that truly goes global.

Let's say you're in the vicinity of the GY and they happen to be hosting a meeting of the Shanghai Single Ladies Association, and Lilly sends you some pictures of the event in real time. Would you not stop by? This is just a small part of WX for business. When I return to Shanghai (hopefully very soon), I look forward to showing you some of the things we've done.

Still shows : Look Around on site from here.

http://www.wechat.com/img/features/33.png

http://www.wechat.com/en/features.html#around

You need to upgrade to 5.0; then you will no longer see "look around".

I think I need to move to a place where there are people. Can't find any people around here within … 1-2 km radius. Maybe a few coyotes.:D